Entertainment and Sites of Interest

Health Arts Network at Duke (HAND)

Duke University Medical Center's Health Arts Network at Duke (HAND) program brings the healing power of the arts to people who are suffering and to those who care for them. Some of the program's services are listed below.

If you'd like more information on any of them, or if you are interested in supporting HAND, call 919-684-2007.

• Art by North Carolina artists is displayed throughout Duke University Hospital in patient rooms and the hallways.

• Art exhibits in the display cases in Duke University Hospital hallways feature works by local artists. The exhibit schedule is shown on the DUMC Information Channel (2).
• The Touchable Art Gallery in the Duke Eye Center welcomes all visitors to explore works of art with their hands and eyes. Call 919-684-6611 for hours.
• Musicians, singers, and poets perform from time to time in the hospital's patient units and public spaces. Scheduled events are listed on Channel 2.
• A writer-in-residence is available to discuss journaling as a means of stress management and self-expression, to read and discuss poetry and stories, and to offer feedback for patients interested in creative writing.
• Volunteer readers are available to visit patients in their rooms to read news articles, stories, and poems.
• Patients and visitors are invited to join in with a group that meets each Friday at noon to discuss short stories and poems and to hear guest readers. See Channel 2 for the Osler Literary Roundtable schedule.
• Triangle Radio Reading Service on Channel 41 broadcasts volunteers reading stories, newspaper and magazine articles, and children's books.
• "North Carolina Connections," the hospital's Arts and Humanities Channel (9), shows programs by and about North Carolinians.
• Patients and their families are invited to visit Duke University Hospital's garden outside the cafeteria. Ambling walkways accommodate wheelchairs and benches provide places to rest.
• HAND's Clearinghouse provides information about arts and humanities events scheduled on campus and in the Triangle.

Sarah P. Duke Gardens

The 53-acre Sarah P. Duke Gardens is located just across Flowers Drive from the Duke Clinic. With its delightful walkways, terraces, lakes, and formal and informal garden areas, the Gardens are one of the finest examples of gardens as an art form in the United States.

Begun in the 1930s and inspired by one of Duke University Medical Center's prominent early physician faculty members, Frederic Hanes, MD, they are dedicated to and honor Sarah P. Duke, wife of Benjamin Duke and sister-in-law of James Buchanan Duke, the University's founding benefactor.

Open daily from 8 a.m. until dusk, the gardens are available free of charge to all who wish to partake of their beauty and serenity. The Gardens office offers tram tours for all patients and horticulture therapy sessions for pediatrics patients.

For more information, please call 919-684-3698.

Duke Chapel

Duke Chapel is located within walking distance of Duke University Hospital on the West campus of Duke University. Built in 1932, the chapel features a 210-foot tower patterned after the Bell Harry Tower of Canterbury Cathedral; 50 bells, including one that weighs 11,200 pounds; 77 stained glass windows made from more than 1 million pieces of glass.

The chapel is open every day except Christmas Day. During the academic year, Chapel hours are from 8 a.m. - 10 p.m. Sunday services are at 11 a.m.

For more information, please call 919-684-2572.